Two-piece installation bracket for venetian blinds



Sept. 13, 1955 H. S. ROSENBAUM TWO-PIECE INSTALLATION BRACKET FOR VENETIAN BLINDS HIS ATTORNEYS INVEN TOR. Harry 5'. Rosenbaum United States Patent() TWO-PIECE INSTALLATION BRACKET FOR VENETIAN BLINDS Harry S. Rosenbaum, Baltimore, Md.

Application September 30, 1950, Serial No. 187,760

1 Claim. (Cl. 248-264) My invention relates to installation brackets for Venetian blinds.

As is well known Venetian blinds are supported in windows or other places by means of installation brackets that receive the end portions of the head rails of the Venetian blinds. lation bracket be such that the head rail of the Venetian blind can be easily installed in or removed from the bracket. Heretofore installation brackets have comprised a generally rectangularly shaped box with one side open through which the head rail extends. The box has a bottom on which the head rail rests. To facilitate installation and removal of the head rail from the bracket, the practice has been to pivot the front side of the box so that it can be opened to insert a head rail and thereafter closed to keep the head rail in position.

My invention relates to an improved bracket having a removable front side, which bracket can be mass produced at low cost. The bracket has two pieces; both, however, can be installed and assembled into a finished bracket by a single machine. No manual assembly 1s required. Moreover, the same bracket can be used to support either end of the head rail, i. e., it is reversible.

In the accompanying drawing I have shown a presently preferred embodiment of my invention in which- Figure 1 is a plan view of a Venetian blind installed in an opening of a support which is shown in crosssection, the Venetian blind being carried by installation brackets embodying my invention;

Figure 2 is an elevational view of the Venetian blind in the support;

Figure 3 is an enlarged plan View, in full scale, of a bracket embodying my invention, the lower end of Figure 3 being the front of the bracket;

Figure 4 is a side view of the bracket looking at the right side of Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a front view of the bracket; and

Figure 6 is a sectional View taken substantially on the line VI-VI of Figure 3.

Referring to the particular embodiment of my invention shown in the drawing, a head rail 2 and Slat-supporting tapes 4 represent a Venetian blind that is carried in an opening of a support by means f a pair of installation brackets 6. In the presently preferred embodiment, the installation brackets 6 are alike so that, in the interests of brevity, only one installation bracket is described in detail.

As shown more particularly in Figures 2-6, my installation bracket is made of two pieces identified in their entireties by the reference numerals 8 and 10 respectively. Each is formed from a single piece of sheet metal.

The irst bracket piece 8 of the bracket 6 is formed to provide a plurality of walls for the bracket comprising a side wall 12, a back wall 14 and spaced substantially parallel top and bottom walls 16 and 18, respectively. Stated diierently, the piece of metal forming It is obviously desirable that an instal- 2,717,755 Patented Sept. 13, 1955 ICC the bracket piece 8 has a irst rectangular portion which forms the side wall 12 of the bracket. Second and third rectangular portions bent over from side edges of the rst portion provide the top and bottom walls 16 and 18 of the bracket. Accordingly, the top and bottom walls have an edge on each which merges into an edge 0f the side wall and is continuous therewith so that the top and bottom walls are in the nature of cantilevers extending outwardly from the side wall 12, as indicated in Figure 6. The three remaining edges of the top wall and of the bottom wall are free. A fourth rectangular portion bent over from the back end ot' the side wall 12 provides the back wall 14 which also has three free edges.

In the finished form of the bracket 6, the side wall 12 has a plurality of holes 22 for receiving screws by means of which the bracket can be secured to its support. The back wall 14 has a plurality of holes 24 for receiving screws by means of which the bracket can also be secured to the support. The back wall also has a plurality of pressed-in humps 26 separated by slots each of which is adapted to receive a lug (not shown) on a head rail for positioning the head rail in the end bracket so as to limit its end play. The top and bottom walls are also provided with pressed-out bosses or spacer means 28. In the presently preferred embodiment, two spacers are provided in each wall, each spacer being generally frusto-conical in shape with a hole at its apex.

The top and bottom walls of the bracket piece 8 of the bracket 6 have each of their ends turned outwardly to provide narrow ange-like members 30 at the back ends and 32 at the front ends. The back wall 14 has its top and bottom ends turned inwardly to provide flangelike members 34 which overlie the back ange-like members 30 of the top and bottom walls 16 and 18.

The second integral bracket piece 10 of the bracket 6 comprises the front wall for the bracket. Accordingly, the front wall is identied by the same reference numeral 10. The front wall is shaped with pressed-out decorations 38 on its front side and a finger lip 40 that can be engaged by a finger for sliding the front wall 10 on and olf the first bracket piece 8 of the bracket. To make such sliding convenient, the upper and lower ends of the front wall 10 are provided with inwardly turned flanges 42 that t around the anges 32 at the front ends of the top and bottom walls 16 and 18. Accordingly, the flanges 32 on the top and bottom walls 16 and 18 are in the nature of fixed rail means adapted to cooperate with interlocking rail means on the front wall and which are formed by the ilanges 42 on the front wall.

Preferably, the spacing between the two anges 42 on the front wall 10 is slightly less than the spacing of the outer parts of the anges 32 on the top and bottom walls, so that the front wall resiliently presses the top and bottom walls somewhat toward each other, the reaction forces providing a slight pressure on the flanges of the front wall to prevent the front wall from freely sliding out of place on the bracket-piece 8. To permit the front wall to freely engage the lflanges 32, their free edges can be curved slightly to form a ramp approach.

In order to insure that the front wall will always easily slide on and off the bracket-piece 8 when the bracket 6 is installed, the spacer means 28 project above the top wall a distance which is more than the corresponding extent of the flanges 30 on the back wall 14 and the rails 34 on the fro-nt wall 10. Consequently, should a bracket be installed with its top wall flush against the upper contacting surface of a support, as indicated in Figure 2, the spacers 28 provide adequate clearance below the supportsurface for sidewise sliding of the front wall 10 in a direction toward the other bracket.

To limit the sliding movement of the front wall 10 in the direction of the side wall 12 the front end of the side wall 12 protrudes frontwards slightly beyond the turned front flanges or rails 32 of the top and bottom walls 16 and 1S. vAccordingly, this narrow projecting front end of the side wall 12 forms an abutment stop which prevents the sliding of the front wall beyond the side wall 12 and helps to position it properly on the bracket, as indicated in Figure 5.

It will be thus observed that a bracket in accordance with my invention is exceedingly simple in construction and consists of only two integral pieces of metal. Each piece consists of generally rectangular portions; and the simplicity of the design permits the bracket to be made automatically in a machine which will deliver the bracket complete with the front wall 10 assembled on the bracket-piece 8. Since both the top and bottom sides of the bracket are equipped with bosses or spacers, the bracket can be installed at either end of the head rail. 'The bracket, therefore, is reversible.

While I have described certain presently preferred embodiments of my invention, it is to be understood that it may be otherwise embodied within the scope of the following claim.

I claim:

An installation bracket for Venetian blinds having headrails, comprising a resilient sheet bent to form a bottom, top, rear wall and side wall, the bottom and top walls extending generally parallel to each other and generally at right angles to the side wall, the front edges of the top and bottom walls being bent over to form short straight flanges extending away from each other in the plane of the front of the bracket formed by the front edges of the top and bottom walls, the top and bottom walls and their said anges being substantially identical whereby the bracket is reversible and may be used at either end of a headrail, and a front piece for the bracket having edges which are parallel to the top and bottom of the bracket bent over towards the rear of the bracket and extending at least partially around said anges when the front piece is placed on the top and bottom walls, the distance between the outermost edges of the anges on the top and bottom walls being greater than the distance between the bent-over portions of the frontpiece whereby said front piece may be retained on the top and bottom wall flanges by the resiliency of these members.

References Cited in the file of this patent.

UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 162,122 Broern Feb. 27, 1951 93,432 Gros Aug. 10, 1869 1,814,422 Warnick July 14, 1931 1,950,808 Nelson Mar. 13, 1934 2,255,326 Mintz Sept. 9, 1941 2,423,978 Hunter July 15, 1947 2,454,550 Burns Nov. 23, 1948 2,467,392 Kinberg Apr. 19, 1949 2,549,905 Jablon Apr. 24, 1951 2,579,788 Burns Dec. 25, 1951 

